Mr. Hassan and his colleagues are actively advising and engaging with the WHO General and Agency’s senior management, designing and expanding the agency’s programs and strategies.

In an interview with UN news ahead of the 2025 World Health Assembly-Fn’s highest forum for Global Health-Explorer Mr. Hassan, born and raised in Texas, USA, which is why he started Icure, a global non-profit organization designed to ensure that all people have access to preventative medical screening and how pandemic treaty could radically improve the care for vulnerable society.

This interview has been edited for clarity and briefness.

Rehman Hassan: Ten years ago, my grandfather died from heart disease. I saw how he was treated differently because of the way he presented himself, as an immigrant and a color person. He was very knowledgeable, but he had limited literacy and he did not necessarily tell what all his options were. I felt that the doctors were trying to rush him into surgery and that they forced him to be stunned because they thought he was moving too much when he was actually just in pain and uncomfortable.

I am convinced that he did not get the care that he deserved and that it really resonated with me because I wanted to make sure no one else felt that way. I saw that my role as a young person could involve working at a community level, mobilizing other young people to promote things like good diet or exercise and go in for those who need help.

This is how Icure started and it has flourished in an international movement. We have hosted a youth scholarship program with about 65 young people from all over the world, from Vietnam to Qatar to Puerto Rico, discussing the health problems they see and how to address those who trusted members of their communities to bridge the kind of information holes that are very common in many marginalized communities, especially among people with low income and immigrants.

Pakinomist: Tell me about your personal experience during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Rehman Hassan: For many people, the pandemic was a deeply difficult, scary, intense process. I lived with my grandparents who were immunocromites and I knew they were at considerable risk. While we had a lot of vaccines in the US, there was a lot of pandemic disinformation and wrong information; Presents it as something that had a low mortality rate and which we could ignore.

In addition, we had a larger winter storm in Texas that froze the state for almost two weeks. We did not have access to electricity, gas or water. Our house was flooded and eventually destroyed. This combination of the climate crisis and the pandemic meant that many people, especially in my community, were left behind and did not receive the resources they needed.

Children in Mexico received food baskets under the Covid-19 pandemic (File, 2022)

UN NEWS: WHO says that the pandemic contingency treaty, if and when adopted, will be a breakthrough for equity and make a real difference on the earth. Do you agree?

Rehman Hassan: I definitely think it’s a game change. I got involved in the treaty process through WHO’s youth council where I represent an organization [ACT4FOOD, a global youth-led movement to transform food systems] It focuses primarily on access to food, the social determinants of health and how we can promote social change.

The text of the treaty spells the efforts to be taken at a level of society and each Member State has an obligation to ensure that the most vulnerable access to support or care as part of their pandemic response plans.

There is an obligation to early detection: If we can detect pandemics early, we can ensure that everyone has access to the care and resources they need.

Pakinomist: It is likely that there will be another pandemic in our lifetime. Will we make it better than the last one?

Rehman Hassan: We certainly see an acceleration of pandemics and extreme events that ultimately undermine equity.

I think the World Health Assembly and the intergovernmental negotiating body for the pandemic treaty has done an incredible job of understanding what went wrong during the Covid-19 pandemic, and former pandemics and then looking at how we can create an instrument that will tackle them inequalities or prevent them from happening in the first place.

If Member States deliver a meaningful treaty, I think it would improve and facilitate a much better pandemic response than what we saw last time.